It Started With A Flower
by Ying-Fa-dono
Summary: "What's your name?" She hiccupped. "Sh-Sheena. Sheena Fujibayashi." Zelos felt his face getting a little warm so he extended his arm with the flower towards Sheena beseechingly. She pointed to herself as if to ask "Is that for me?" Sheelos One-Shot! Enjoy


**Ying-Fa: Hello, everyone. Okay, so I've been dying to write this for awhile. Just a little Sheelos fluff for Valentines Day...even though it's a day late. Anywho, please enjoy.**

It started with a flower.

Zelos Wilder, the Chosen of Tethe'alla, had seemed to be made of stone when he was young. He never smiled or laughed, he never played with other children, and he never showed any signs of happiness in his life. But why would he? His mother was dead, his father hated him, his step-mother was executed, his little sister was locked away in an abbey; he had nothing to be happy about. He was a child without a heart, a "thing" without feelings. Zelos was the stoic young Chosen of the prosperous world.

However, one day, the Vice Chief of the hidden village of Mizuho came to the King's castle in Meltokio to report that the true Chief Igaguri had fallen into a coma during a tragic event of some kind. The Vice Chief had come to report this shift in position to the King and the Pope. As the Chosen, Zelos had gone as well, but he found the conversations of grown-ups to be so boring he wanted nothing to do with it.

As Zelos sneaked out of the throne room and into the entrance, he spotted something he did not expect. A young girl, only a little younger than him, was crying outside the throne room. Judging from her clothing, she must have been a resident of Mizuho. She was curled up in a ball by the large doors and was sobbing to herself, consumed with misery.

"Grandpa…" he heard her whimper. "I'm…I'm…I'm so sorry Grandpa…"

Zelos stared at her for a moment. It was the first time he'd actually seen someone crying like that. He hadn't ever seen anybody crying because they were truly and completely unhappy before. He wondered what must have happened to make this girl so sad. He suddenly felt a little bad. When his mother had died, he didn't cry. He'd been too shocked, too appalled by her last words to shed any tears for her. After everything he'd been through, he'd never cried. Not like this girl was doing.

He suddenly had an idea. Zelos suddenly turned around and went back inside the castle. He roamed the hallways and found several vases filled with different flowers that the maids had set up to make the castle look nice. Zelos inspected the flowers carefully and found a large, yellow marigold in one of the vases. Being of such noble standing, Zelos was expected to know such things as the language of flowers. Upon remembering his studies, he knew that marigolds mean "comfort" and "end to sorrow". Making up his mind, he took it out of the vase of water and hurried out of the castle again.

The girl was still there, her crying having not ceased at all in the time he was gone. As he moved closer, his shadow fell over her and she looked up. Despite her brown, almond-shaped eyes being red and puffy from crying, Zelos thought she was cute…for a girl. Her dark hair was tied back and her face was thin and pretty.

She sniffed and wiped her tears from her eyes as she looked up at him. "Ch-Chosen One?" she said, confused.

"My name is Zelos," he corrected her. He didn't like being called Chosen One and he didn't want to start things that way with this girl. "What's your name?"

She hiccupped. "Sh-Sheena. Sheena Fujibayashi."

Zelos felt his face getting a little warm so, before he lost his nerve, he extended his arm with the flower towards Sheena beseechingly.

Sheena blinked in confusion and stood up. She looked at him, then the flower and then pointed to herself as if to ask, "Is that for me?"

Zelos nodded and shook the flower slightly to get her to take it. Stunned, the girl reached out her hand and took the flower from him. Instantly, her eyes were no longer sad and her face blushed deeply. So quietly that he could barely hear it, she murmured, "Thank you" and ran off without another word.

It hit him very suddenly what he had just done. By giving a girl a flower, he'd gotten her to be happy and blush. He never realized just how pretty girls were when they blushed…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

And so, Zelos made it his duty to give every girl he met from that moment a flower. Every time he did, they would blush and smile and become all the prettier. He gave them to little girls and they smiled. He would give them to older women and they would smile. He even gave one to the Princess and _she_ smiled. Rich, poor, high class, low class, middle class, every woman in Meltokio became absolute beauties when he presented his flowers to them.

A few years later, he ran across the girl he'd first given a flower to. Sheena had come back to the city on an errand. Upon seeing and recognizing her, he immediately went in search of a flower to give her. When he found one, he quickly picked it and hurried over to her.

"Sheena!" he called out to her.

She turned and saw him. "Oh, it's you." Zelos failed to notice that her voice sounded flat and dejected.

Zelos smiled and reached out his hand to her. "A gift for you, milady," he said, cheerfully. But Sheena glanced at the flower and shrugged.

"No thanks," she said, smartly.

Zelos blinked in confusion. This had always worked before…

"From what I hear, you've passed flowers to nearly every single girl in Tethe'alla," said Sheena. "There's no point in you wasting your time with me."

"But you liked the last one I gave you," said Zelos, innocently.

"Yeah," huffed Sheena. "But that was before I found out that that's what you do with every girl. So you don't have to waste your charms on me, you…you…Stupid Chosen!"

"Stupid?" said Zelos, confused.

"Yes," snapped Sheena. "Stupid Chosen, that's what you are. So you can take your flowers and stick them…"

Before Sheena could finish her insult, Zelos swooped in and pecked her on the cheek. There it was again. That deep blush, the stunned face, those eyes wide with a shocked happiness….

Sheena didn't stick around after that. She spun around and ran off without a word, just like before. Zelos was stunned. Sheena's reaction to his kiss was even better than it was with the flower. If Sheena reacted like that with a kiss, he couldn't help but wonder what all the other girls reacted like…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

And so, by the age of twenty-one, Zelos had become a world renowned ladies man. Every girl in the world was charmed by him. Whether it was for his looks, his station, his wealth, or his charm, they were all his to have. But eventually, after a long and dangerous journey with seven great friends and more adventures after that, Zelos still felt something was missing. He could call himself the "Most Wanted Stud in Tethe'alla" and the "Mighty Hero Who Helped Reunite the Worlds" or "The Sorta Valuable Friend of Lloyd", but there was still one thing he couldn't call himself. One affair that had never been settled. Not yet.

He went to her village; yes it was _her_ village, seeing as she was the Chief now and all. He considered himself grateful that she granted him an audience in the first place, seeing as they still had their rough spots. But, if he was successful here…

"Well, things sure have been quiet haven't they?" Zelos said as he lounged beside her. The two of them were overlooking the village from the roof of her house. "It's weird, but I kinda miss traveling around with Lloyd and the others."

"Yeah," Sheena admitted. "Things were a constant adventure back then. Guess those things have to come to an end eventually."

"Yeah, right," said Zelos. "Well, being head of the Church now, the congregation seems to think that I need to settle down soon."

"Like that's going to happen," Sheena scoffed.

"I know! I know! Hard to believe the ruggedly handsome and simply irresistible Zelos doing such things as settling down! Still, it's something I've gotta think about eventually."

"Right," said Sheena, dismissively. "I've been kinda thinking about that too. Grandpa did say he would like to see me get a move on with my life, but I seriously don't know if I…"

Sheena's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a marigold being held in front of her. She stared at it and followed the length of the arm holding it to see that it was, indeed, being offered by Zelos.

"A gift for you," he said, smiling.

Sheena huffed. "We've been over this!" she snapped. "You and your lousy flowers and your stupid kisses…"

"But you liked those things."

"Was I supposed to like you trying to look at me in the shower!"

"I told you that was natural curiosity."

"Stupid Chosen!"

"Listen, Sheena," said Zelos, his smile fading and his eyes narrowing. Sheena gulped. She never liked seeing him when he was scary-serious like this. "Yeah, I gave a lot of flowers to a lot of girls. And, yes, I've kissed a lot of girls too. But didn't you ever realize that you were the first person I did those things to?"

"I..." Sheena stammered. "I…um…I…"

Zelos leaned closer to her and stared right into her brown eyes. The same brown eyes that he'd seen shedding so many tears when they first met. "I started doing those things to other girls because I realized that there's no better feeling in the world than making a girl smile. That's when she's most beautiful, as I've always said. Still, that's not quite what I was looking for." He reached up and took hold of her chin so that she couldn't escape his gaze. "None of those girls, not a single one of them, looked nearly as beautiful as you did when I stopped you crying and made you happy again."

Sheena wished with all her heart and soul that she would be able to snap out of it and push him away, but it was impossible. She couldn't tear her gaze away from his serious eyes. The look in them was so intense it was downright scary, and in her state of awe and fear she could do nothing to stop him leaning in and covering her lips with his.

They had no idea how long the kiss actually lasted, they were too lost in each other to really know. When they did break apart, Zelos looked back into her eyes, less serious but still with purpose.

"Your happiness is the most beautiful thing in the whole world," he said, quietly. "And I'm one of the few who can say that with confidence. I won't go saying things that I can't. I can't promise that I'll never flirt with girls again, but you can trust me when I say that you will be the only one I ever kiss again, the only one I give flowers to, the only one I'm going to see beside me at the end of the day.

"You were, are, and will always be my first and true love."

Tears, not like the ones he'd seen so many years ago, formed in Sheena's lovely brown eyes. She blushed once again (he loved it when she did that) and buried her face in his chest.

"What…," she sniffed. "What kind of proposal is that? You're still going to flirt with girls no matter what? Stupid Chosen."

"Zebras don't change their stripes," said Zelos, smiling as he held her close. "But, like I said, I love only you. Always have."

Sheena leaned into him and tried to control her happy sobs. "I love you too…Stupid Chosen.

Zelos grinned and nuzzled his face in her hair, containing his love. "I love you more…Violent Banshee."

It ended with a flower.


End file.
